An Otis Elevator adjuster looks at the shaft from the elevator pit at a downtown San Francisco construction site in 2013.
As the war in Ukraine continues, Otis Elevator announced Wednesday that it has sold its operations in Russia to a company in that country.
The terms of the deal with Ice Development, which Farmington-based Otis announced on the company’s website, have not been published. Russia following the invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.
“After conscientiously contemplating the global effects and consequences of the ongoing humanitarian crisis and tragedy in Eastern Europe, adding supply chain disruptions and expanding regulations, we have decided that Otis’ ownership of our operations in Russia is no longer sustainable,” Otis said. said in a statement ready. statement. ” The sale of the company will offer a brighter long term for Otis’ colleagues, consumers and local shareholders. “
In its statement, Otis Worldwide Corp. , as the company is officially known, described Ice as “a Russia-based investment firm focused on the real estate sector and overseeing large-scale residential construction and construction recovery projects. “
The Russian company “plans to resume full production at the production of Otis in St. Petersburg, under a new logo name,” Otis said.
Selling through Otis is confusing by the fact that the company’s product line is based on technologies that a customer is not expected to have. According to Wednesday’s announcement, it’s unclear how, when and if Otis would sell or move the generation to Ice.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine earlier this year, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld of the Yale School of Management has closely followed the business reaction to the conflict. .
More than 1,000 have scaled back their operations in Russia, he said.
“Otis understands that it is not imaginable to continue doing business in Russia while Russia is needlessly killing thousands of innocent Ukrainian civilians,” Sonnenfeld said Wednesday. international relations and legal complications. Their reaction was brilliant, fair and attentive to the wishes of all stakeholders. “
The reaction of U. S. corporations to the war in Ukraine is “parallel to what many giant multinationals did when they withdrew from South Africa in the late 1980s,” he said.
It’s a resolution but also a monetary one,” Sonnenfeld said.
“The auditors are concerned and seek to investigate such a sensitive exposure of Russian business operations,” Sonnenfeld said. “In short, corporations simply don’t get advantages from staying in Russia. “
Research that Sonnenfeld and other Yale professors published in an educational article in late May found that “companies that get rid of Russia are rewarded through shareholders, and the price of inventory profits far exceeds the price of sales of Russian assets. “
Otis, in his on Wednesday, said: “We remain hopeful of returning to peace and stability in the region. We will continue to contribute to the ongoing humanitarian and relief efforts in Ukraine. “
Otis shares rose 2. 5% mid-afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, with a strong start to trading following the pre-trade announcement.
luther. turmelle@hearstmediact. com